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Pain and constant fatigue can be symptoms of Long Covid (icon image)
Photo: Michael Bihlmayer/EyeEm/Getty Images
Even weeks and months after a corona infection, many people still suffer from the consequences.
You are constantly exhausted, short of breath or in pain.
According to an analysis by Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), such long-lasting complaints initially only account for a small proportion of absenteeism from work, but the employees affected are absent for a long time.
Of the employees insured with TK, in whom the virus was detected with a PCR test in 2020, almost one percent was on sick leave with a diagnosis of Long Covid in the year 2021, as the health insurance company announced on Wednesday.
The sick notes then lasted an average of 105 days.
Many absenteeism days even with mild illness
Even slight corona infections can cause a comparatively large number of days of absence in the following year, as it was also said.
According to the evaluation in 2021, after a mild course, those affected by long-Covid were on sick leave for an average of 90 days - for patients who were in the hospital for more than seven days because of Corona, an average of 168 days.
For people who had to be ventilated in the hospital, it was even an average of 190 days.
For comparison: In general, every employed insured person was reported unfit for work for an average of 14.6 days in 2021.
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A long covid is generally considered to be complaints that persist for more than four weeks after an infection;
as Post Covid if they restrict everyday life for more than twelve weeks afterwards.
There is no uniform definition of the clinical picture.
According to experts, many symptoms are covered, and people who initially had a mild course can also be affected.
TK boss Jens Baas said that the number of people affected by long-Covid appears relatively low according to the analysis.
"But these are only the patients who have also been given sick leave with this specific diagnosis - we also assume that there are a large number of unreported cases."
According to Techniker Krankenkasse, the basis for the evaluation was the data of all 4.3 million workers aged 15 to 64 who were continuously insured with the health insurance company from 2019 to 2021.
The data therefore does not differentiate between long and post-Covid - since November 2020 there has only been one diagnostic key "post-Covid condition", which depicts both.
mar/dpa/AFP